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FantomFang
06-09-2008, 06:40 PM
Being a huge fan of RPG's in general here, I was just wondering what other people enjoy and have played that is not ADOM =p

I'm actually looking for a great RPG myself right now, like for PS2/PS1, so if anyone has any ideas, throw 'em at me!

I've already seen most of the Tales of ... series of games, and would personally recommend Abyss and Symphonia, I have played most of the Final Fantasy's (some i loved, some were annoying), Chrono Trigger, Chrono Cross, The Legend of Dragoon, dabbled in the Star Ocean series (it was ok to me), played the Disgaea series of games, all the Baldur's Gate (no offense to ADOM, but BG2:SoA is imo the best RPG ever) games, KotOR series, among others that slip my mind right now.

You can see the problem I have finding new games, eh?
Any ideas are appreciated, and I'd be happy to discuss the other RPG's pros and cons =)

Grey
06-09-2008, 08:48 PM
I'm surprised you've only listed console RPGs there. I enjoy many myself (in particular FF3, 4 and 7, Wild ARMs and several of the Breath of Fire games) but PC RPGs often give a more immersive experience - in particular allowing a more open world with a lot more to explore and a lot more ways to develop your character.

Fallout has to be my biggest recommendation, for a really great and varied environment, with a lot of ways to solve different tasks. Morrowind is good for a huge detailed world to explore - not without its flaws, but it can suck you in for months (Oblivion on the other hand isn't quite as good). I keep hearing awesome things about Planescape: Torment, but haven't had a chance to give it a proper run yet.

Of course nothing beats ADOM, but the commercial RPGs can offer certain things it lacks ;)

FantomFang
06-09-2008, 08:54 PM
I've played both Morrowind and Oblivion, played at least one of the Wild ARMs games (i played and beat 2 thoroughly, and my sister has the remade version of 1 that i may play).

I don't know what you mean by no PC RPG's though. I mentioned BG2:SoA (Baldur's Gate 2: Shadows of Amn) as being my favorite RPG ever, and I played KotOR on the PC. I guess i forgot to mention that I have played BG1, Icewind Dale series, Dungeon Hack (yay MS-DOS), Eye of the Beholder (again!), and Neverwinter Nights on the computer.

Fallout I have not played, how does that play out? Similar to the Elder Scrolls games, but better? Planescape's also been one I'd like to get myself, but i have trouble finding downloads/torrents of it, much less a real copy (unless I want to spend as much money as I would spend on two XBOX360 games).

Nezur
06-09-2008, 09:42 PM
Some RPGs I've played:

Neverwinter Nights - seemed good at first but got boring. I liked the character creation part but the actual game felt somehow shallow. The game module editor is nifty though.
BG series - I liked it... many years ago. One could call the series genre-defining. I've been trying to play through the whole series but ADOM-related things seem to take up most of my time.
World of Warcraft - the only MMORPG I've played this far (well, to be honest I've played Ultima Online a few minutes). Player vs. Environment part is mostly boring, full of grinding and not very rewarding. PvP, on the hand, was the best it could offer in my case.

reich
06-09-2008, 09:43 PM
Planescape: Torment is the best rpg ever in terms of storytelling and literary experience! It is worth any money on eBay, you won't regret it!! People got this game's logo tattooed on their skin, you know?!

Also Arcanum is a great game, it's basically Fallout in a steampunk setting. A very developed world and tons of options in playing style and character developement. Hardcore rpg fans should try it.

I usually dont play the oriental console stuff but I was positively shocked at the quality of Jade Empire (I played the pc version). A very untraditional game in terms of combat and character management, but it makes it up in spades in the great character portrayal and relations and a truly epic storyline. Now I look forward to play Mass Effect from the same developers!

I'm also really fond of old school dungeon crawls, especially the Eye of Beholder series. There is something endlessly addicting in this very simple style of gameplay. You can get those games, and more, like Dungeon Master, for free as abandonware now!

Shadow_2014
06-09-2008, 10:39 PM
> Fallout I have not played, how does that play out?

It's fairly open-ended, like Morrowind and its counterparts, but in more of a Baldur's Gate format. Definitely worth checking out. Easy to get ahold of and runs on even mediocre computers. There are also many jokes throughout the game which make it a bit more fun.

I also really like Oblivion or any other open-ended game like that. Gothic 3 is good, though with a very simple combat system. the rest of the game makes up for that, though. the leveling system takes awhile to get used to, but once you do, it's enjoyable.

FantomFang
06-09-2008, 10:51 PM
Well, not having any luck with searches for good torrents of Planescape in the past, I try today and find a good one! Awesome! I also got one of Fallout going now! So this should be a fun thing to play, along with my ADOMing.

Reich: On the subject of Jade Empire, yeah, its pretty fun, but if you enjoyed it, you should go and try Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2. They're built extremely similarly, and I loved them both, despite issues I had with both, lol. I don't have the 2nd one anymore, but I actually have the 1st one for my PC.
About the old dungeon crawlers, I still have Dungeon Hack and EYe of the Beholder sitting around the house on their old floppy disks =) oh the memories.

reich
06-10-2008, 12:06 AM
Reich: On the subject of Jade Empire, yeah, its pretty fun, but if you enjoyed it, you should go and try Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic 1 and 2

yeah, I heard about those being very good, only the Star Wars universe scared me away. But I will check them out, since they are now avaible at budget price.

I have Dungeon Master on floppy, the original issue :cool:

Grey
06-10-2008, 12:19 AM
The Star Wars stuff puts me off KotOR too. Is there a lot of light sabers and stuff in it? I mean don't get me wrong, I loved Star Wars as a kid, but these days... well, it has a lot of bad connotations. It would be hard for me to take any Star Wars game seriously.

FantomFang
06-10-2008, 12:57 AM
Bad connotations? Hrm. Enlighten me. What is it specifically about the Star Wars universe that scares you away?

On the subject of their subject matter, they take places in an era a few thousand years before the movies, with mostly new worlds, as compared to the same movies. You get a lightsaber in the game once you reach a certain point, or do a certain amount of stuff in both, and in both you have a party of two other characters that you bring into battle with you, non-jedi and jedi alike, with classes like Scoundrels, Scouts, Soldiers, and the Jedis (Guardian, Sentinel, Consular).

The RPG system is basically just like 3rd Edition D&D, you level up when you reach a certain amount of experience, gaining points to add to one of your 6 ability scores (Str, Dex, Con, Int, Wis, Cha) every 4th level, gaining skill points to add to your skills every level, and gaining feats at intervals determined by your class. You even have prestige classes, in a way.

To end, I'll just say this. Jade Empire was good, but it was the spiritual sequel to these games, in that its entire system was built the same way this one was. If you can consider getting Mass Effect, then you have no reason to avoid these, as its more about its story and gameply rather than "It's Star Wars! Fan-service!", If you know what i mean.

Sorry for the long-windedness, I'm bad at description =P

Grey
06-10-2008, 01:28 AM
Bad connotations? Hrm. Enlighten me. What is it specifically about the Star Wars universe that scares you away?

The fans, of course. The fact that people take so very very seriously something I see as purely some kids movies. And everything based around Star Wars tends to be surrounded with this big aura of "Star Wars is so awesomely awesome, let's blare out that theme tune as loud as we can because the sun shines from George Lucas' arse!" It's like everything Star Wars *assumes* you're a huge fan too. I'm not. I like the movies, but I'm not a big fan, and any game centred around the fans seems completely out of touch with what I want (or understand - the Star Wars universe is huge and complex).

D&D system doesn't interest me either I must say. One reason I've failed to play Torment much has been the fact it's so steeped in the AD&D 2nd Ed system - what I've seen of 3rd Ed ain't much better. I prefer it when a computer game uses its own system, something more centred around what works well for a video game than a pen and paper RPG.

I guess I should point out that I'm a fussy bastard when it comes to games :P

FantomFang
06-10-2008, 01:35 AM
Hm. I see. Nothing wrong with being a fussy bastard though, just means you don't want to waste your time on something you don't enjoy. I guess I'll just leave what I said about the game to that, if you enjoyed Jade Empire, you can enjoy KotOR.

Now on the topic of Fallout...getting ready to try it out myself here! wooo for torrents.

EDIT: I got it as an .ISO file. Anyone experience with these? I assume that I can just mount it on a virtual CD/DVD drive to make it work, correct?

reich
06-10-2008, 01:42 AM
if you enjoyed Jade Empire, you can enjoy KotOR

correct me if I'm wrong, but there is one major difference, JE has an arcade third person perspective combat and KotORs are tactical turn-base like Fallout.

FantomFang
06-10-2008, 02:08 AM
I recall them being the same. IIRC, they're both turn-based behind the hood, but appear to be freeform when played. I haven't played Jade Empire in a while though, so I may be wrong.

Grey
06-10-2008, 02:15 AM
EDIT: I got it as an .ISO file. Anyone experience with these? I assume that I can just mount it on a virtual CD/DVD drive to make it work, correct?

Yup, very easily - there's a fair few programs that do that. Otherwise use a burner to put it on a CD if you want.

Enjoy the game - it's great fun. Can be difficult to get into at first though - you'll want to either read the manual in a lot of depth (there should be a pdf on the CD, or there are various sites you can get one from) or check out a spoiler-free character creation guide on GameFAQs or similar.

FantomFang
06-10-2008, 02:18 AM
Yeah, unfortunately they don't have a spoiler-free character creation guide, or something of the sort, so Ill try and find something somewhere else. Thanks btw, for the advice. Looks like it'll be fun!

FantomFang
06-10-2008, 02:39 AM
Course my d/l has to have problems...for some reason every few seconds my screen flickers while i'm trying to play it, and everything goes black except where movement is taking place. It basically makes it unplayable =( I wonder if its a bad d/l, or if my computer simply has issues (Vista, ya know)

PeanutGod
06-10-2008, 07:33 AM
I have to agree with many of the games already stated here.

The BG series is absolutely fantastic. Got all the games, and all the expansions for all consoles. (The PS ones are pretty cool two player). BG2: Shadows of Amn is just incredible, so much fun, so varied, hours of gameplay. I remember going out and buying a new computer just because my current one couldn't run the first BG when it came out. How sad......but worth it.

Arcanum is terrific. A bit weird in places and it has a few technical flaws that really piss you off now and again, but theres some great gameplay in it. And when you complete the game, its nice to see that all your gameplay didn;t go to waste as the ending is effects by all your choices. Great array of character development though.

Morrowwind - Good game, broke many barriers. Magic system sucked a bit, and you always got diverted from the main storyline to do little bits (which is good). Overall well worth it.

Oblivion - Awesome. Still playing it now, although I'm getting bored having to close the Daedric Gates. It's like.....I've done so many before, they're all the same. Should have thought about this part a bit more. Oh well.

NWN - Loved this to start with but then it just became too easy. My wizard had spells coming out his arse, was carrying everything and anything, gold all over the place. Just bored me eventually.

Fable - Pretty cool game. Decisions make you grow horns (if you're bad) or a halo (I think it was a halo (if you were good). Rather cartoony, but worth a sit down.

Dungeon Master was cool. Anyone ever play Nox? There were some great games around back in the day!

head2
06-10-2008, 09:22 PM
I got arcanum, but haven't played it much so i don't know if it's good. The whole steam/gunpowder/magic -mix scares me. :o

FantomFang
06-10-2008, 10:59 PM
Gawd, both Fallout and Torment hate me! Several dialogue options right at the beginning of the Torment i got shut the game down, and Fallout won't run properly...seems i should just go and get the actual games themselves, lol.

Silfir
06-11-2008, 01:55 PM
Talking about console RPGs I always have to recommend Grandia 2 (PS2 or PC, probably very hard to get), simply because it has the best turn-based fighting system I've ever seen. I still keep firing it up just to have some more of these awesome battles, even though I know that thing by heart.

FantomFang
06-11-2008, 06:32 PM
Actually not so hard to get. My local Gamestop sells 'em in their online store. In fact, my sister just rebought that game, because we for some unknown reason had sold it! Also, if you loved Grandia II (I beat it myself, great game), you should try its predecessor, Grandia. The battle system plays out the same way, with weapon skills that level as you go, and instead of Mana Eggs containing all of the magical abilities, each character has their own set of magical abilities that are unlocked through the use of the Eggs. Then you level them up, instead of the eggs.

Anyways, both are great titles, the first one being more cliche-heavy than the second though.

PeanutGod
06-11-2008, 06:57 PM
Ahhh.....great game..and for the Dreamcast.

Best RPG for the Dreamcast though............Skies of Arcadia. I absolutely love this game, its easily my favourite non-PC, RPG of all time. Awesome storyline, brilliant characters, great game play in general. Love flying around in the ship, battles are cool, starting your own island is pretty rocking. Gilder is brilliant........DANCE FOR ME *Sound of blasting guns*

Yeah.....Skies of Arcadia all the way!

FantomFang
06-11-2008, 07:04 PM
I've heard that was really good, but since I lack a Dreamcast, its kind of hard to play =(

Shadow_2014
06-11-2008, 11:22 PM
Talking about console RPGs I always have to recommend Grandia 2 (PS2 or PC, probably very hard to get), simply because it has the best turn-based fighting system I've ever seen. I still keep firing it up just to have some more of these awesome battles, even though I know that thing by heart.

That reminds me of a couple console games worth checking out for their battle systems alone. The first and more popular would be the Star Ocean series. I personally prefer the Second Story on the PS1, due to its simple item creation and interesting storyline, but those who prefer nice graphics might want to take a look a Till the End of Time on the PS2.

And then there's a lesser known game with an interesting battle system and entertaining gameplay, known as Legend of Legaia. It's on the PS1, although I think I once heard of a sequel. Although until I play it for myself, I wouldn't know whether it's all like its predecessor.

And now that I'm thinking of older console games, I'm going to have to throw Earthbound out there. Probably my favourite game ever. I own an original SNES copy, which took ages to track down and is now worth a not-too-shabby amount.

FantomFang
06-11-2008, 11:32 PM
Heh, i have Till the End of Time (Beat the main story, none of the optional stuff), and my sister has just borrowed Second Story from her friend to play. Funny. Legend of Legaia sounds familiar, but I've never played it before. Earthbound is familiar, but I have NO earthly idea how it plays, since I don't know anyone who has played it.

Shadow_2014
06-11-2008, 11:52 PM
You can find Earthbound for any SNES Emulator. It developed a pretty big fan-base, so there are even a few sites where you can find Earthbound and no other games, in case you don't feel like downloading 700+ games in one huge zip.

And if you have a PSX Emu, you might be able to find Legend of Legaia, but I don't know how well known it is, so I certainly wouldn't know where to find it offhand.

Timpak
06-12-2008, 09:23 AM
Best rpg games are Planescape Torment, Fallout & Fallout 2 and Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind. I've probably spent houndreds of hours playing them, can't even recall how many times I've played through Fallout 2.


Yeah, unfortunately they don't have a spoiler-free character creation guide, or something of the sort, so Ill try and find something somewhere else. Thanks btw, for the advice. Looks like it'll be fun!

Depends kind of how you play the game, but general guidelines are always pick gifted (+1 all stats) and finesse, targeted hits will be crucial late game. A good fighting character is 6 strength, 10 agility, 10 intelligence, 8 perception, 2 charisma and the rest into endurance. As for tag skills small guns, energy weapons and barter.

Since the game is full of bugs I recommend downloading patches at www.nma-fallout.com. The unofficial patches also.

I recommend playing through Fallout before playing Fallout 2, it makes lot of the jokes and other things in Fallout 2 better. As for max stat startup in Fallout 2 you should go 4 strength, 9 endurance, 8 perception, 8 agility, 8 intelligence, 7 luck and 6(i think) charisma picking gifted and small frame. That will yield you a total of 10 strength, 10 endurance, 10 perception, 10 intelligence, 10 agility, 10 luck and 8 charisma if you find everything :)

Good early on perk (you get perks, kind of special abilities every 3 lvls) is awarness, you can see hp and ammo for the enemies.

I've once finished fallout 2 roguelike style (not dying a single time) using only unarmed combat. When I think about I think I'm gonna play some fallout 2 now.

theotherhiveking
06-12-2008, 12:10 PM
Xenogears and xenosaga.

These have a great plot, and loooooooooong conversations.. If you can't stand a conversation with more than 4 lines without trying to skip it as fast as posible, then these aren't for you.

Silfir
06-12-2008, 12:47 PM
Yeah, I've played Grandia too. My major gripe - and you can't really blame the game for that - was the atrocious translation. Thank the gods for the english speech that was retained during some cutscenes - I actually got more out of that than of the supposedly German text.

Just as an example of the mind-numbing idiocy the translators must have suffered from (probably they were just underpaid and given too few time, or not even human): If you hit an opponent during his attack animation, you score a "Counter!" hit. Well, that's easy to understand, right? And in German, the perfect translation to that would be "Konter!". Yeah. Right. Very easy case. Shouldn't be a problem for any kind of professional translator. Can you guess what I got?

"Zaehler!". As in, one who counts. A "count-er". Yeeeeeah.

It's a nice game and the build-up system felt okay (though I never quite knew what to specialize in), but at some point I guess I lost momentum.

FantomFang
06-12-2008, 07:24 PM
Yeah, its not really a game you choose to specialize, you just do EVERYTHING =p
I remember by the end, Justin has 5-star skill speed in everything, insane power, and could romp through everything, and all the other characters were meh, only one could be called good at anything, otw they sucked =p

kapsi
06-13-2008, 07:49 PM
I liked Final Fantasies and Fallouts (1 and 2, spinoffs are shit) the best

head2
06-14-2008, 09:47 AM
I also recommend "openglad". I used to play it a lot when i was a kid.

Here's a screenshot of it:
http://snowstorm.sourceforge.net/screenshots/4.png

In this game you'll hire troops and create a party and they gain experience points and you can train their stats / buy levels if you got enough gold.

My teams are usually not teams at all, (consisting of 1 super-trained character only, makes it very hard).

The idea is quite simple, just clear the level of foes and exit to the next level.

PeanutGod
06-16-2008, 04:07 PM
I've just bought the Witcher for the PC, and its turning out to be a great game - bar one thing. There's some dodgy graphics card bug, which keeps causing the game to crash for a minute or so during videoo scenes. It's fucking annoying me, and whats more, i can't find any way to solve it.

Pustka
06-16-2008, 06:17 PM
i like Fallout and Fallout 2. Morrowind. I spent really long time playing Might & Magic VI. the story really sucked me in. later i tried M&M VII, VIII and IX. but each next was shorter and not as good as the previous one so VI remained my favourite. I also playde some Daggerfall but graphics in dungeon made me literaly sick so i had to quit ;>

I once tried BG demo but i couldnt get used to isometric view with rts-like party gameplay so that was the end of BG for me.

I played WoW alot becos i love the world from warcraft series. it was fun but it lacks in so many rpg aspects. like no multiple ways to solve quests. passive npcs. well mmo arent really well suited for rpg yet :)

myrddin
06-16-2008, 08:31 PM
In my mind the Wizardry series will always be the ultimate in rpg gaming and nothing Ive ever played comes close to depth and immersion. Adom is a close 2nd for me.

Wizardry VI, VII, and VIII are incredible and are even a trilogy where each game has multiple endings and you can import your party from one to the next and you start in VII and VIII depending on how you ended the previous game. VIII itself has 8 different endings!

You can still find the Wizardry Archives CD around sometimes that has 1-7 on one disc and then you can pick up 8 seperately.

Epythic
06-16-2008, 08:35 PM
Nethack.

(*duck and run*)